Some vehicles are capable of sensing their environment and localizing the vehicle based on the sensed environment. Such vehicles sense their environment using sensing devices such as radar, lidar, visual image sensors, and the like. Some vehicles further use information from global positioning systems (GPS) technology, navigation systems, vehicle-to-vehicle communication, vehicle-to-infrastructure technology, and/or drive-by-wire systems to navigate the vehicle.
Vehicle automation has been categorized into numerical levels ranging from Zero, corresponding to no automation with full human control, to Five, corresponding to full automation with no human control. Various automated driver-assistance systems, such as cruise control, adaptive cruise control, lane changing systems, lane following systems, traffic jam driving systems and parking assistance systems correspond to lower automation levels, while true “driverless” vehicles correspond to higher automation levels. Such vehicles may include localization capabilities.
From automated driver assistance systems to automated driverless systems, the systems use path data to define a path for the vehicle to traverse. An automated driving system uses the path data to control the vehicle to traverse a path defined by the path data. Currently envisaged systems may not always provide optimal handling for all kinds of turns, particularly turns greater than 90°, or may require significant processing and path searching.
Accordingly, it is desirable to provide systems and methods that can determine a greater range of paths in a processing efficient manner. Furthermore, other desirable features and characteristics of the present invention will become apparent from the subsequent detailed description and the appended claims, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings and the foregoing technical field and background.